There were rumours rolling around Vegas that so much money had been bet on McGregor winning that if he did, in fact, manage to, bookmakers would have seen the biggest losses in more than ten years. But, as we know, Vegas never loses, and all the money McGregor inspired punters to part with was swallowed up by the bookmakers at once.
After all was said and done, the Mayweather/McGregor match up ended up being the most bet-on fights in history, with around US$85 million changing hands. Mayweather ended up going off at -475, and the McGregor’s return stood at +375 at the Aussie sports betting sites and other bookmakers which offered markets on the Fight of the Century.
Online Streaming Hit Pay Per View Hard
USA Today has announced that almost three million people watch the match by means of live streaming services, which was a huge blow to the fight’s profitability, thanks to the fact that promoters were flogging Pay Per View at US$99. Reports state that most of the live feeds and streaming were accomplished via Facebook. Facebook Live has become a straightforward way for friends to be able to share live feeds and videos with friends and family across the social media network and this is the route most spectators took.
What’s Up Next for Conor McGregor?
Conor McGregor enjoyed the largest payday of his career thus far with the match, and it can be safely assumed that getting back into the octagon will not be something he is rushing in to. McGregor is rumoured to have made US$40 million off the purse for his performance, and is further expected to be seeing over US$100 million when the Pay Per View buys and merchandise sales have been tallied up.
It looks likely that McGregor will be heading back to the UFC in order to defend his Lightweight crown, and he will most likely be facing off against Flyweight champ Max Holloway. McGregor never actually lost the Flyweight title –he simply relinquished it so that he could go for the Lightweight title. Holloway went on to defeat Jose Aldo and won it in the interim, but the question remains as to whether this fight would interest the Notorious Conor McGregor. He has already managed to defeat Holloway, back in 2013, and McGregor would not gain much by getting into the octagon with him again.
As the UFC Lightweight champ, McGregor could well be waiting to fight the winner of the next match, a fight between Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson. The issue with these two fighters is that neither are a very big PPV draw, and without McGregor the fight will likely not be considered a very interesting one.
This fact has many people believing that McGregor could well take the trilogy fight and face off against Nate Diaz. Diaz and McGregor both have wins against each other and the trilogy fight would be a great way to resolve this.
Where is Floyd Mayweather Headed?
Mayweather stated in the post-fight conference that he has zero intentions of entering the ring ever again, and that he is now officially retired from the world of boxing. It is rumoured that the fighter made a payday of around nine figures on the 26th of August, so there is definitely no monetary reasons he would ever return.